In recent years, it has become important for data centers, information systems, and the like to improve the utilization of the servers by concentrating the processing of plural services on a space-saving system consisting of a small number of servers, and to thereby increase the degree of integration of servers.
When operating an abovementioned server system, it is common to configure virtual networks by which to prevent servers belonging to different services from directly communicating with each other, for security reasons. The virtual networks refer to networks that are separated so that only specific servers of plural servers connected to one network switch can communicate with each other. This makes it impossible for two servers belonging to different virtual networks to directly communicate with each other. Implementations of the virtual network include VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network: the virtual network described in claims)
To operate such virtual networks, it is necessary to configure which network individual servers within a system belong to, for the network switch that controls the flow of information in the network. Specifically, it is necessary to configure the ports on a network switch where the network switch and servers are connected. This made it necessary to reconfigure the virtual networks each time a server is added to the system, a server is replaced for repair, a server used for a service A is to be used for another service B, or the like.
Also, whenever adding, replacing, or changing the use of a server, its initialization is required to operate its service. Generally, the initialization involves installing an operating system (OS) and software and the subsequent setup.
Thus, when a server is added, replaced, or use of a server is changed within a virtual network, it was necessary to reconfigure both the network and the hard disk drive in order to use the server for a specific service.
Technologies are disclosed that enables previously registering the configuration for each port of a network switch and the configuration for a storage device, and performing network switch configuration and storage device configuration in a lump when a change, such as a change in the service of a server, is made (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-124976 and U.S. Pat. No. US2003069972A1).
However, in prior arts, it is necessary to previously define the virtual network configuration for a network switch or the configuration for a storage device. This makes it necessary to manage the correspondence between servers and ports, that is, which server in the system is connected to which port. For a system containing a large number network switches and servers, such as a system of a data center, the cost of managing these devices was a substantial burden.
Furthermore, if the server configuration is changed frequently due to failure or something like that, or if a gradual increase of servers is assumed in the operation of the system, it is necessary to change the configuration manually each time a change is made, necessitating the cost of change and increasing a risk of operation error.
In addition, migrating the configuration of a specific system to another hardware configuration requires information that depends on individual equipment, making it difficult to reuse the information on the original equipment.